Architecture Delivery to Rwanda

With nearly ten million people, Rwanda is Africa’s most densely populated country -- yet it boasts fewer than ten architecture firms within its borders. As one of the most pressing issues in international development, healthcare delivery is the focus of countless NGOs, yet its ties to architecture remain a not-so-unraveled knot. In a nation whose population is dying from diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, can architecture save these lives? Enter Michael Murphy, co-founder of MASS Design Group, a firm with a new model of delivering humanitarian design to Rwanda and other developing communities.

After hearing Paul Farmer speak about Rwanda’s lack of hospitals in 2007, Michael Murphy, then a first year M.Arch at...

“You can try to distribute massive amounts of drugs, but there is no way that the pipeline can work unless the shelter...

As the inaugural hospital of the entire district, Butaro Hospital lies two hours north of Kigali, covers an area of...

In the recently launched Department of Architecture at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology, two members of...

Taking cues from infection control experiences of PIH and the World Health Organization, they employed creative...

The hospital also introduces natural cross-ventilation through clerestories, secluded patient wards around courtyards,...

Here, the workers (there are a total of 200, all local) are laying the foundation for the covered outdoor veranda.

With five people on the ground in Rwanda and ten members in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Murphy and his team hold lofty...

In the recently launched Department of Architecture at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology, two members of...

“There’s a dearth of design thinking where places need it the most.

"As a brief reality check, 800,000 people were killed in the 100 days of genocide in Rwanda.

In addition, some of the other projects on the horizon include a 200-unit housing development in the eastern area of...

When I asked Murphy whether he pictures himself in Rwanda after he graduates, a nostalgic smile danced across his face.

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